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The Compartmentalization of the Web

I remember years ago when you would sit at a computer and actually browse the web. I would follow links to new sites and content. I would go from a website on Bigfoot to How to View Constellations to a company selling sock puppets. It was so random and fun and you never knew what you would find. The web was endless.

Enter mobile devices. Now browsing is mostly limited to what apps you use. If you use a Digg or similar apps, then you can still find interesting sites, but you’re still only seeing what’s considered to be the ‘top’ of the web. Otherwise you now browse via a feed reader, individual content apps or Twitter links. So what will happen to those websites that used to be randomly found? What is the future for that obscure website on alarm clock gnomes that features a cascading background image of dancing Jesus figures? Are they sentenced to rarely be seen again (not so much a loss for some)?

The web is now being categorized into what will be viewed via mobile device and what won’t. Those older sites that are impossible to find will now really not be found unless its randomly seen and Tweeted about.

We are now getting into a specific content era, where if you want to know about an NFL team, you don’t search for it, but you click on your NFL app and find out through there.

Now this isn’t law, but I can see this growing in the future. I myself love using Google to search random things, or use StumbleUpon to find odd and interesting sites. I don’t have apps for everything, but I can see myself slowly moving towards not even using a browser. Sundays I get my football scores via an app. If I want to write a blog post, I bring up the WordPress app. When I’m bored its a iPhone game that can keep my occupied.

It seems many users agree, as recent studies say (via ReadWriteWeb.com) that many people under 35 are now relying on apps and not browsers.

So how often do you just randomly browse the web or rely on link sharing sites?